February 13, 2008
February 15, 2008

February 13, 2008

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is an infuriating anime. First it was happy fun crack anime until you hit episode eight, in which (Z0MG SPOILARZ) they killed off the coolest damn character in the show. I was pissed. I threw things. I yelled. "What the hell, Konami?!" I said. "What the fuck do you think you're going to do now?! Do you expect me to sit through nineteen episodes of whiny bitch boy becoming a man?!"

Well, I've watched up until episode twenty, so apparently I wasn't all that angry. But the tone certainly changed after that point - much more serious, much less crazy cracky z0mgwtf-ness. They also tossed in Nia, who did absolutely nothing to make me less pissed off over Kamina's death. Moe chick with irritating voice actress does not make up for the death of entertaining enthusiastic shirtless guy. Remember that, Konami. Don't expect me to put up with this bullshit again.

However, they also introduced batshit!Simon at that point, which I found rather intriguing. Batshit near-suicidal angry kid is totally more interesting than oh-god-I-just-pissed-my-pants whiny brat. Plus, it wasn't too long after that that he stabbed a guy with his keychain drill thing, so I started liking Simon around that point.

Shortly after the keychain-stabbity-thing, we fast-forward seven years in order to allow society to develop a bit. Also...

My, my. Society's not the only thing that's been developing. Hello, Simon. Your character (or something like that) just got a lot more interesting.

On the other hand, Rossiu took seven years to become a total bitch. What the fuck, Rossiu. You were reasonably nice before! Even slighly cute, in a kiddish sort of way. Now you're a bitchface who digs up people who'd rather be underground, throws cuteboy Simon into jail for no reason, and leaves hundreds of thousands of people to die. You lose, Rossiu. You fail.

Anyway, while Simon is thrown into jail, he makes a new friend.

Oh, snap! Simon's about to become Viral's bitch.

Speaking of jail sexytimes, what did you think about that fight between Simon and Viral? If you're a straight guy or just someone with a naturally clean mind, go back and watch that scene. How many fangirls do you think were hoping those towels would slip? I'm gonna go ahead and guess every last fangirl on the planet.

How did they stay up? This is doubly puzzling when you consider that Viral seemed to favor kicking over punching. There was at least one point where I was sure that thing was about to flip up and/or fall off, but no such luck. Ah, well. C'est la vie.

February 13, 2008

KISSES MEAN DEATH. Kiss #1:

DEATH. Kiss #2:

DEATH. Kiss #3:

DEEEEEAAAAATH.

Before that last one, I thought it was just Yoko, like she had Lips of Death or something, but no. All kisses in TTGL lead to death.

Also, apparently Simon's version of going Super Saiyan involves, in place of blond hair, the ugliest fucking glasses in existence. Star-shaped glasses? I mean, really? I don't think I've ever seen glasses involving star shapes worn by someone over the age of ten. They're hideous, and thank God they broke. You'd think they'd be poking into his forehead and cheekbones, wouldn't you? I certainly would, but perhaps that's because I have some grasp of logic.

In TTGL, the creators' lack of common sense could not be more apparent. I mean, sure, I knew that it was ridiculous long before I saw their flag billowing in the wind in space, but I really didn't think they'd get more over-the-top than having mechs throwing planets at each other. But no, they had to go around bouncing off of galaxies and throwing them like discuses. Yay for science.

On another topic, how adorable wasy human!Boota? Cuute. I could have gone with less pink, personally, but I love Boota and he made an incredibly adorkable humanoid thing.

Speaking of cute, who would've guessed that Viral's dream would be having a wife and daughter? He is apparently a family man. Awww.

I have issues with the whole twenty-years-later bit, though. Rossiu looked fucking weird, and his voice was horribly jarring compared with what he sounded like before. Also, Leeron apparently doesn't age. He didn't age after the seven-year jump in episode 17, either. The only logical conclusion here is that Leeron is immortal zomg.

On the whole, though, the ending was thoroughly depressing. First we got Nia's death, which was not terribly surprising, but then Simon drops off the face of the planet and wanders around doing nothing, apparently. One of his last lines is, "I guess I'm nobody."

GREAT. THANKS FOR THIS WONDERFUL HAPPY FEEL-GOOD ANIME, KONAMI. TTGL has pissed me off until the end. Of course. Now if someone could explain to me why I liked it so damn much, I'd be very thankful.